Bord Bia named Ireland’s most reputable organisation

Indigenous firms lead the annual survey while Ryanair ranking improves

Bord Bia has been named as Ireland’s most reputable organisation, according to a new study that rates companies across a number of indicators including leadership and innovation.

Three indigenous firms lead the seventh annual RepTrak survey from the Reputations Agency, which ranks the 100 largest and most visible organisations in the country.

Bord Bia comes top, followed by Eason & Son and An Post. Rounding out the top ten most reputable organisations in Ireland are Google, Lidl, the Irish League of Credit Unions, Aldi, BMW, Ford and Boots.

Ryanair’s attempts to reinvent itself as a customer-friendly business seems to be paying off with the latest survey showing it climbed from 99th place in 2013 to 63rd position this year.

Irish Water recorded the lowest score among organisations with a rating of just 14.3. This compares to 79.6 for Bord Bia and 44.7 for the second worst ranked company, Eir.

The study is based on 5,093 responses gathered from the public.

The report presents an average measure across four emotional indicators: trust, esteem, admiration and good feeling. It also rates across seven reputational measures: leadership, products and services, innovation, governance, workplace, performance and citizenship.

This year’s report shows that organisations operating in food-related sectors were among those with the top reputations, with eight making the top 20. Retail is the second most-trusted sector, followed by the tech sector.

The automotive industry’s score fell significantly over the year, primarily due to Volkswagen’s double digit decline, but the sector remains in fourth position overall.

The biggest climber overall this year was Virgin Media, with VW recording the biggest fall.

In terms of individual categories, The Irish Times was the most popular in media, Google came top for tech, Bord Bia for food-related organisations, the IRFU for sporting bodies, Eason for retail, Laya for healthcare, and the Irish League of Credit Unions for financial.